The Counter-Conducts of Pastoral Power

Abstract

A pastor welcomes a family into her study, stating that she will be able to meet with them for one or two sessions before she refers them to another counselor. They describe the struggles of being “down in the dumps” ever since the wife was fired from her work unceremoniously. Just at the same time, this family faced their rents skyrocketing. The minister thinks they came in for counseling because she had begun to share economy stories from the pulpit, discussing the effect of the downturn on everyone.

Linda M. Chatters et al., “Use of Ministers for a Serious Personal Problem among African Americans: Findings from the National Survey of American Life.” The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 81, no. 1 (January 2011): 118–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

A. K. M. Adam, “Rhetoric, Postmodernism, and Theological Education: What Has Vincennes to Do with Athens or Jerusalem,” in To Teach, Delight, and to Move: Theological Education in a Post-Christian World (Eugene, OR: Cascade Book, 2004): 71.Google Scholar

Philip Browning Helsel, “Re-Membering the Body of Christ: Historical Origins and Psychological Implications of the Doctrine of the Communion of Saints,” in Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2013): 140–157.Google Scholar